The 10 Nigerian track and field athletes disqualified from participating in the ongoing 2020 Olympics in Tokyo have staged a protest on the streets of Japan.

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The protesters who held placards with inscriptions such as “All we wanted to do is to compete,” “Why should we suffer because of someone else’s negligence,” and “We are not just alternates but potential medalists,” among others, expressed frustration over their unfortunate disqualification as a result of the negligence of Nigerian sport officials.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had, on Wednesday, said that the athletics were ineligible to participate in the games for flouting an important rule which required Olympic athletes to undergo at least three out-of-competition tests, including urine and blood tests, three weeks apart in the 10 months leading to the event.

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Although the athletes were not found to have illegally improved their athletic performance with the use of substance – a technique called doping and sought to be detected in the tests – they were banned as a result of weak domestic testing levels.  

Out of all 18 athletes banned for the same reason, 10 were Nigerians.

Photo credit: Adepoju Tobi Samuel